Mike Greenlar / The Post-StandardAfter four years, Thidar Thuta (left), of Eastwood, has been reunited with her mother, Daw Yin Yin Maw, of Myanmar. Thuta's mother was granted a visa after applying three times, and she arrived in the United States the day after Christmas. Thuta said two churches, North Syracuse Baptist Church and the Syracuse Myanmar Baptist Church, prayed for her mother's visa.

Syracuse, NY -- When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar in May, Thidar Thuta lost touch with her mother for about a month.

The cyclone uprooted trees, homes, phone lines and, by some estimates, killed more than 100,000 people.

The cyclone hit the Southeast Asian country just as Thuta's mother, Daw Yan Yin Maw, was preparing to apply for a visitor's visa to come to America.

"During that time she was supposed to go to the (U.S.) embassy, but a tree fell on her house. The trees were blocking the road so she couldn't reach the embassy," said Thuta, who emigrated to America in 2005 after she married her American husband, Brock Montgomery.

Thuta asked North Syracuse Baptist Church and the Myanmar Baptist Church to pray for her mother's safety and that she would get the visa. Her mother's visa application was rejected three times; it was finally approved Nov. 17.

This past weekend, Thuta and her husband traveled to New York City to pick up her mother at John F. Kennedy Airport.

"I was very emotional," said Thuta, an accountant at Time Warner Cable. "I praise the Lord that he finally bring her to me, that he answered my prayer and give me the best Christmas present I can ever ask for."

The last time Thuta saw her mother was in 2004 when she spent a month in her native Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. At the time, Thuta was an accountant for the U.S. government when she met Montgomery, who was serving in the U.S. military.

When she settled in America, Thuta worried about her mother, siblings and other family members in Myanmar.

Her concern heightened in September 2007 when government troops opened fire on 10,000 Buddhist monks who led a pro-democracy, anti-government protest in Myanmar's former capital, Yangon.

Maw, who lives near a Buddhist monastery, watched the demonstration from the road near her home. She was among the cheering crowd, clapping as the monks walked by.

"All the monks were walking the streets and they were praying for the people," said Maw, a retired judge. "Suddenly, the army came riding in a truck. They all got down and shot the monks."

"A lot of people were hiding after that," she said. "The government said no one can come out on the road. Many monks died and the people ran away. They threw the dead bodies in the river. The whole world was looking, watching Burma."

Government soldiers rode through the city shouting from loud speakers asking people to stay inside their homes. During that time, Thuta talked to her mother on the phone, but their conversations were limited to "how are you doing?"

The government tapped the phone lines so they couldn't talk politics, she said.

"Every time, we talk, she'll say, 'Don't ask me about politicians,'" Thuta said. "I can't say much, but I keep checking to see if she is alive. A lot of things happened right next to the road where she lives. A lot of shooting happened there."

"Where my mother lives, there was a lot of dead bodies for days," she said. "The government killed people and refused to move the corpse. She would smell it."

When the cyclone hit, Thuta worried that she wouldn't see her mother again. She followed news reports about the Myanmar government's refusal to allow the U.S. and relief organizations to help.

Maw said her four children and five grandchildren gathered in their living room to pray when the high winds grew stronger. They were praying when a tree landed on the roof of the house.

The furniture, beds and other household items floated in five feet of water, Maw said. Maw's children tried to get her to leave, but she was afraid to leave her home. Maw was forced to leave her home when the rising water started to cover her head.

A firefighter got her out of the house and took her to a hotel where she stayed for 10 days.

Maw has repaired the damage to her home, but life in Burma is hard. She earns money from a rental car, but she relies primarily on her daughter for support. The government fixed the roads, but doesn't take care of the people, she said. She's looking forward to spending six months in America.

Thuta said she's glad none of her family members died in the cyclone or the pro-democracy demonstration, but she's worried about the future of her country. She helped organize the Myanmar Baptist Church congregation and works with a lot of Burmese refugees who have settled in Syracuse.

"We're praying, with God's help, there will be change in the future for the new generation," she said.